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Former Hollyoaks actor Barry Sloane has landed a theatre role alongside The Office and Pirates Of The Caribbean actor Mackenzie Crook.

The 28-year-old, who played psychotic Niall Rafferty in Channel 4's teen soap, has been signed to appear in a Jez Butterworth's play Jerusalem, taking on the role of bearded country hardman Troy Whitworth.

Crook, meanwhile, will play Johnny Byron's friend and partner in crime, Ginger.

Speaking exclusively to DS, Sloane said: "I'm really looking forward to meeting and working with Mackenzie Crook. I've been brushing up on my Bristonian and although I miss working in soap, I can't wait to getting back on stage."

Jerusalem is a dark dramedy depicting modern-day life in the Wiltshire countryside. The story revolves around local waster Johnny Byron (Mark Rylance), who continues to juggle his children, drug habit, housing problem and alcohol dependency until his troubles reach a head on the day of the country fair.

Sloane begins rehearsals on Monday, June 8, and the play can be seen at the Royal Court Theatre from July 15 to August 22.

The actor last appeared on stage as Sammy in Blood Brothers at Christmas 2007.

The refreshed 'Hollyoaks' logo

Those viewers who have caught episodes of Hollyoaks since Monday will have already spotted that new series producer Lucy Allan has implemented her promised "small but noticeable change" to the opening, closing and to-ad break title sequences.

For those who haven't seen yet, here's what the new ad break bumper looks like:

As you can see, the pink and blue logo has been dropped for a monochrome version, while the ad bumper character pictures have been switched to the colour variety.

I'm all for a refresh during new regimes, but I'm not sure about this one. A quick straw poll around DS Towers would agree.

Former Hollyoaks actress Summer Strallen has landed a role in a new BBC show called Land Girls.

The five-part period drama, part of a season of programmes marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, follows the lives and loves of four girls in the Women's Land Army.

Strallen - who played Summer Shaw in Hollyoaks and most recently Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound Of Music - will play Nancy, a cosseted rich girl conscripted into the WLA against her will.

"Land Girls is a warm and vibrant drama celebrating the unsung heroes from the Second World War, and we're delighted to have secured this talented cast to realise the story," said BBC daytime controller Liam Keelan.

Land Girls is currently filming in and around Birmingham and is due to air on BBC One in September.

Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks has launched an online search for a new female star.

Hollyoaks production house Lime Pictures hope to discover the show's next Roxanne McKee (Louise Summers) as they invite female viewers aged 18-30 to send in audition clips in the hope of being cast as the programme's new 18 or 19-year-old student character, India.

The web-based audition process, titled 'Desperately Seeking', opens today and will entail downloading a short script, videoing a performance and uploading the audition to the official site. Videos can be uploaded from the beginning of next week.

Entries must be received by June 22 and a shortlist of the final 25 will be announced on June 25. Those chosen will be asked to attend an official audition at the Hollyoaks set during the week commencing June 29.

From the shortlist, 10 applicants will be seen by the show's new series producer Lucy Allan, before the final three appear on T4 when the winner will be announced on July 4.

The winning candidate is then expected to begin filming for the part straight away and will appear on screen from September.

Series producer Lucy Allan said of the project: "We are very excited about opening the audition process to a wider audience and hope to find that special raw talent that we found in Roxanne and Marcus in the 'On The Pull' series."

Former Hollyoaks star Roxanne McKee landed her role as Louise Summers after winning the 'On The Pull' competition in 2004.

A Hollyoaks actress dialled 999 as she lay dying to say: "He's stabbed me to death ... my boyfriend, please help me", a court has heard.

Amy Leigh Barnes made the desperate call minutes after Ricardo Morrison, 21, attacked her with a kitchen knife and "left her for dead", Manchester Crown Court was told.

The 19-year-old, who was also a part-time model, was found a short time later by her father - who discovered his daughter dying in a pool of blood, Stuart Driver QC, prosecuting, told the court.

Morrison is in the dock alongside his mother, Melda Wilks, 49, of Hollyhill Road, Rubery, who is a policewoman in the West Midlands force. She is accused of assisting an offender, her son, by allowing evidence to be destroyed following the killing.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

Mr Driver, opening the case for the prosecution, said Amy called 999 shortly after 11.30am on November 8 last year from her grandmother's house in Farnworth near Bolton, where the young couple had been staying. He recounted her 999 call, saying: "'I'm dying. He's stabbed me to death. I'm dying. Please help me.'"

Mr Driver added: "The operator asked who had stabbed her and she said 'my boyfriend'."

Shortly afterwards Morrison abruptly dashed from the dock when the prosecutor began summarising the post mortem findings of the Home Office pathologist who examined Miss Barnes' body.

The injuries included a 10cm long slash across her face - a cut going from the right corner of the victim's mouth along her cheek. She also suffered five wounds to her chest and four to her back, several of which penetrated her liver.

Following an examination of the size of the knife and the injuries, it seemed the blade had been forced fully into the victim with "severe force" during the attack, Mr Driver said.

At this point the defendant, wearing a white shirt, tie, waistcoat and silver stud earring, turned his back and ran towards the cells. The hearing was temporarily adjourned, and the jury left court.

Earlier the prosecutor told the court the couple had been together for around a year.

Morrison, who denies murder, had moved from his native Birmingham to live with Miss Barnes, first at her mother's house, then to share the spare bedroom at her grandmothers' two-up two-down terraced home in Moss Street in Farnworth.

But there were "serious problems" in their relationship, the jury was told.

At 1am on the day she was murdered she had sent a text message from her mobile phone to Morrison, saying: "You are out of my life for good," the court heard.

Hours later her grandmother left the house for work, leaving the young couple alone in the house.

Morrison, it is alleged, then attacked Amy, punching her, spraying an aerosol in her face and then hurting her arm in a door, Mr Driver told the jury.

He then left to go into Bolton, locking her in the house.

While he was out "angry" text messages resumed between them, the victim calling him a "woman beater" and telling him, "I hate you. It's over. Leave me alone."

Miss Barnes, "upset and tearful" then called her mother, who lived across town in another part of Bolton, who was "very worried" about her daughter.

With Morrison on his way back to the house, they agreed her father would go to collect a house key from her grandmother and pick her up to bring her to their house.

That call ended at 11.33am, when Amy was alive and well, the court heard.

"Then something happened very quickly because, just two minutes later, at 11.35am, she called 999 and said he's stabbed me, my boyfriend," Mr Driver added.

"Having got off the bus, he walked the short distance to the house, let himself in, attacked her with the knife and left her for dead. Soon, her father turned up, opened the front door and found his daughter at the bottom of the stairs, a pool of blood beneath her.

"You can imagine his reaction, his panic."

Police and paramedics arrived and the victim was rushed to the Royal Bolton Infirmary.

Despite the efforts of medics they could not save her life and she was pronounced dead at 2.40pm.